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Great News from our Stewardship Team

After many years of charging a fee for our Religious Education program, in consultation with ministers and staff last summer, the Board of Trustees decided to eliminate the RE fee. The idea is that we are all in this together, we all contribute in many ways to fulfilling the mission of our church, and a fee-for-service approach is counter to this. This bold step meant that initially we let go of the $10,000 generated by the fees for children and youth programs; yet the resiliency and commitment of our church community is truly amazing. The wonderful news is that our members with children and youth in the RE program actually INCREASED their pledges this year by $15,000, for a net positive effect of $5,000. Thank you!

This is another example that, like the amazing growth in the Share the Plate program, people respond in generous ways when inspired by opportunities to help. Our church members and friends also recognize the value to our children, congregation and wider community of a solid RE program that helps our children, youth and adults explore questions of ethics, spirituality and social action that exemplify our mission: “to further the reach of love in our own lives, in Northern Colorado and beyond.”

More Great News! Besides increasing the church’s funds through this thoughtful decision, our members and friends have increased their contributions dramatically over the last five years: total pledges in 2010 were $388,477. This year, pledges are $567,480!

Your generosity over these years is reflected in our capacity to better serve our members and our wider community. It has meant – for example – the addition of a second minister, the year-round employment of our Director of Religious Exploration, the growth of our incredible music program, significant progress in moving towards fairly paying our staff, the availability of childcare at all events and programs, significant new justice ministries like Faith Family Hospitality and ESL Tutoring, enhanced excellence in worship and a greater capacity to meet the ever-growing administrative and technological needs required to support ministry today…and much more. We have made so much progress in moving from a culture of scarcity to a culture of abundance – a culture where we ask how big our vision can be and live into that big vision.

New to your Stewardship Team’s responsibilities this year is overseeing all fundraising in the church, to ensure that fundraisers and events not only do not conflict with each other, but complement one another.

Your Stewardship Team will further the wonderful work that has been done over the last five years. During this time of transition in our church, we will continue to nurture the culture of abundance at Foothills that has been created and grown with care. We look forward to helping guide our church into the future.